"All helicopter pilots-I don't know whether they'd admit it or not-we are all frustrated
fighter pilots. And we want to fly something that is strong and powerful and that you can
do a lot of things with." (Video Interview, 36:30)

Leland Burgess talks eloquently of the skill and accompanying arrogance helicopter
pilots possess. During his service in Vietnam he flew both reconnaissance and search and
destroy missions. After months of escaping enemy fire, his number came up in February
1968, when he discovered a bunker and attempted to fire on it. The return fire badly
injured his arm and his craft went down. Rescue was a while in coming, and Burgess and
his crew agreed they didn't want to be taken alive by the enemy. Burgess was in Vietnam
for the Tet Offensive, which he saw as a great victory for the U.S. and South Vietnam,
and he was disappointed to see how the ferocity of the offensive actually weakened support
for the war back home.